Checked against primary sources 2026-08-24
Texas 2026 NEC Adoption: What Changes on September 1
Texas adopts the 2026 NEC on September 1, and nobody has answered the obvious questions. The date is published. What is not published is which edition governs an exam you sit in October, or whether the course you already paid for still counts.
Quiz yourself: did this section move?
On this page
The date, and where it comes from
The proposal ran in the Texas Register in March 2026 and the Commission of Licensing and Regulation adopted it by unanimous vote on July 28, 2026. Effective September 1, 2026, the department adopts the 2026 National Electrical Code as approved by the National Fire Protection Association on September 9, 2025.
Until August 31 the adopted edition is the 2023. On September 1 it is the 2026. There is no phase-in.
PSI updated its candidate bulletin in July 2026 and states in capitals that the examinations will be referenced to the 2026 NEC.
Texas did not adopt it clean
There is one Texas amendment, and it is worth knowing because it is the kind of detail a question can turn on.
On the ground-fault protection requirements for outdoor outlets, Texas keeps the exception that exempts listed heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment, and it keeps it without expiration.
The exception exists in the national code with a sunset. Texas removed the sunset. In Texas, that exemption does not go away.
Read the section in your own code book and then read the Texas Register notice alongside it. The difference is one clause and it is permanent here.
What we can tell you, and what nobody has answered
Three questions come up constantly right now and the published sources are silent on all three.
- Which edition governs an exam sat after September 1 by someone whose eligibility was approved in July
- Whether continuing education completed on 2023 content before September 1 still satisfies the renewal
- Whether a code book purchased for the 2023 edition can still be brought into the exam room after the switch
We are not going to guess at these. TDLR customer service takes calls on 512-463-6599, or 800-803-9202 in state, and will route a question to the Education and Examination Division. It is worth the phone call if any of the three applies to you. When we have answers on the record we will put them here with the date we got them.
What we can say is what the rule itself says. The continuing education rule was not amended alongside the code adoption. Its text still requires four hours covering the code as adopted, or the current NFPA edition. That disjunction is in the rule, and whether it does any work here is exactly what we could not settle.
One genuinely new section
The 2026 edition arrived with a tentative interim amendment already folded in before printing. It adds a new section in the motors article prohibiting ground-fault circuit interrupters and special purpose ground-fault circuit interrupters between power conversion equipment output terminals and the motor.
The amendment states that its text was incorporated into the document prior to printing, so it is in the book rather than a supplement. We have not read NFPA's own record of the sheet, so this page prints no issue or effective date for it.
This is a field problem written into the code. Variable frequency drives produce leakage current that trips ground-fault devices, and installers had been placing protection where it does not belong. The new section closes it as a prohibition rather than a calculation.
It is new in this edition, so no material written before 2026 mentions it, and nothing you already know covers it.
What to do about your study material
If you are testing before September 1, your 2023-based material is correct for your exam.
If you are testing after, it is not, and the gap is not evenly distributed. Some articles barely moved between editions. Others were reorganized.
The honest answer is that you need the edition your exam references, and after September 1 that is the 2026. Material keyed to the wrong edition is expensive because of when you find out, which is in the room, with the clock running.
Questions people ask
When does Texas adopt the 2026 NEC?
September 1, 2026. The Commission of Licensing and Regulation voted unanimously on July 28, 2026 and the rule is 16 TAC 73.100. Until August 31 the adopted edition is the 2023, and there is no phase-in. The cutover page carries the vote and the rule text.
What edition is on the Texas electrician exam after September 1?
The 2026 edition. PSI updated its candidate bulletin in July 2026 and states that the examinations will be referenced to the 2026 NEC from the same date the state adopts it. See which edition applies here, and the exam site page on the exam code edition change.
Does Texas amend the NEC?
Yes, once. 16 TAC 73.100(b) adopts the ground-fault exception for listed heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment at outdoor dwelling outlets without the expiration date printed in the national text. So the national sunset does not arrive here. Everything else was adopted as approved by NFPA.
Which cities are on an older edition?
We have not published a list, and we are not going to guess at one. A city or county can amend the adopted code inside its own jurisdiction, and where it does the local amendment governs there. Ask the authority having jurisdiction which edition it enforces and which sections it has amended, and get the answer in writing.
Do I need a new code book?
For an exam sat after September 1, yes, because the examinations reference the 2026 edition from that date. For work, the edition follows the permit, or the day work started where no permit was needed, so a 2023 book can still be the right book for a job in progress. The book check tells you what moved between the edition you own and the 2026 one.
What changed most?
The reorganization at the front of the book. Article 220 became Article 120 and Article 750 became Article 130, both moving into Chapter 1, and the over-1000-volt material came out of the general articles into a parallel set. The 2023 against 2026 summary walks the rest, one paragraph each.
Where do I look up a moved section?
Use the crosswalk. It takes a 2023 section number and gives the 2026 address, what now sits at the old number, and the document each answer was read in. Ten of them are free in the quiz first.
How often does the NEC change?
Every three years. The editions in circulation now are 2020, 2023 and 2026, and a state adopts each one later and on its own schedule. There is a page here on how often the NEC is updated and what the NFPA cycle looks like from the outside.
Find where any 2023 section went, in seconds
Every moved, reused and vacated number, with the document each one was read in. $29 once, no account. Ten of them free in the quiz first.
Fifty numbers, each checked against the 2026 text, with a public corrections log.
What this page cites
- 16 TAC 73.100 Code adoption. Adopted by unanimous Commission vote on 28 July 2026 and effective 1 September 2026. Note that third-party mirrors of the rule still show the 2023 text; read TDLR laws and rules for the current version. source
- Texas Register, Title 16 Proposed Rules, March 20 2026 The proposal text, filed 6 March 2026, carrying the September 9 2025 NFPA approval date at subsection (a) and the Texas amendment at subsection (b). A proposal is context, not authority; the adopted version is what took effect. source
- NFPA 70 TIA 26-3 Tentative interim amendment adding the new motors section at 430.132. The 2026 edition front matter lists 430.132 among the sections that amendments and an errata reached and states they have been incorporated into the Code. We could not read the sheet itself, so its issue and effective dates are left out.
- 16 TAC 73.25 Continuing education. Not amended alongside the code adoption. source